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Another army friendship forms a couple days later as Charles decides to do everything he can to thank Klinger for saving his life when the autoclave pipe bursts. Having been pushed out of the way by Klinger, Charles is immediately in his debt. Neither notices anyone else enter just as the pipe bursts. In the direct line of fire when he comes in the room, B.J. is immediately blown into the wall and is told by Colonel Potter who comes in to check the damage to rest. Charles, amazed and thankful for Klinger's bravery and foresight offers to do anything the company clerk asks for. After Klinger gets his nose looked at. Getting news of the accident from Hawkeye later, B.J. is surprised that Klinger only broke his nose. Getting up from his spot on the side of B.J.'s cot, Hawkeye starts to leave, but turns around.
"'Well, just to be on the safe side, let me give you an insurance exam'," Hawkeye states now worried for his friend. Explaining he only needs to rest, B.J. closes his eyes hoping Hawkeye will leave him alone. Knowing there is not much he can do, Hawkeye decides to find Margaret to ask for her advice. Finding her in Post Op, Hawkeye announces, "Margaret! Just the nurse I wanted to see!"
Rolling her eyes at her husband knowing he wants something from her, the nurse asks, "What is it, Pierce?"
"I'm sure you heard about the incident with the autoclave?" Hawkeye starts. When his wife tells him she does, Hawkeye continues, "Well, with Klinger's nose broken, it made me wonder if maybe something happened to B.J., but he won't let me help him."
"Does he say he's fine?" Margaret asks as she continues to check charts. Following her, Hawkeye says, "Yeah, but I room with the guy. Something's off."
Taking in the information, Margaret wants to compliment her husband on his care and compassion, but knows by his next comment that her husband is getting to the annoying side of his compassionate nature.
"You think I should sit with him? Make sure he gets better?" Hawkeye asks. Rolling her eyes, Margaret replies, "Is he dying?"
"No."
"Then leave him alone."
"I'm going to make sure he's okay," Hawkeye contradicts before heading back to his tent. Then, once Hawkeye leaves, Margaret sighs in relief before checking one of the soldier's vitals. Thankful to be back at her tasks alone, Margaret has to keep from rolling her eyes at yet another interruption.
"Major!" Colonel Potter greets as he enters the room. Standing from her seat at her desk, Margaret replies, "Colonel."
They make a little small talk before Margaret asks if he will check on Hawkeye adding, "He seems convinced that something is wrong with B.J. and I think you're the only one that can help him see reason."
"Noted, Major. Was on my way to the Swamp now."
Walking into the doctors' tent, Colonel Potter asks how B.J. is as Hawkeye whines, "'He won't let me examine him. Can't you command him to present arms and legs and everything they're attached to?'"
"'Sounds sensible to me'," Potter agrees as B.J. complains, "'What's next? Did I eat my vegetables?'"
Exhibiting how well he can walk, talk, stand, pour homemade gin in a martini glass, B.J. announces, "'So here's to my perfectly good health!'"
Then, B.J. drops his glass. Looking at his best friend and his CO, B.J. realizes he is caught. Reluctantly, he lets the men drag him to x-ray. When a x-ray shows that he is fine, B.J. heads back to his tent leaving Colonel Potter to talk sense to Hawkeye about leaving his friend alone, but that they will call for a replacement to let B.J. rest. Telling B.J. they are going to replace him for the time being when the replacement, Norm Traeger, enters the Swamp, Colonel Potter can sense how annoyed B.J. is stating, "'It's only temporary. We thought it would be a good idea.'"
Realizing Hawkeye is also in on the replacement, B.J. announces, "'This is ridiculous.'"
When Traeger asks to see B.J.'s arm, Hawkeye remarks to Colonel Potter, "'You wanna fill in the fill in on who's Chief Surgeon around here?'"
"'Now what's going on?'" Treager asks. "'If you didn't want a specialist, why'd you send for me?'"
Both caught off guard, the bunkmates exclaim, "'Specialist?'"
"'Oh, did I forget to mention'," Potter starts, "'that I figured as long as we need a replacement for Hunnicutt it'd be a good idea to get somebody who could take care of him too. So, I called Tokyo General.'"
Annoyed that Potter has gone behind his back, Hawkeye almost rolls his eyes when the replacement tells him, "'Surely you see the sense of bringing in an expert?'"
Declaring he does not need an expert, B.J. asks them to leave him alone causing Hawkeye and the other doctor to try and make B.J. see reason. Telling the men to quiet down, Colonel Potter explains how the men will deal with the situation. B.J. will be monitored and looked after, Hawkeye will not interfere, and Doctor Treager will be B.J.'s doctor. Watching over the men to make sure they act nicely with each other, Colonel Potter wonders how he is always in charge of grown children. A few minutes later, the bunkmates watch Colonel Potter lead Traeger to the VIP tent. Realizing Hawkeye is still watching him, B.J. tells his friend to go take a walk adding, "I'll be fine."
"Fine, fine!" Hawkeye replies leaving the tent and walking toward Margaret's.
"Who is it?" She calls when there's a knock on her door. Not in the mood to joke, Hawkeye announces, "It's me, Margaret. Open up, please."
Opening her door, Margaret looks up at her husband and asks, "Are you okay?"
"Physically, yes," Hawkeye states as he enters the tent. "It's Beej. He's hurt and another doctor is being assigned to him, and Traeger is a pain! He's never even been to a MASH unit before."
"He sounds like you," Margaret remarks once her husband tells her more about Doctor Traeger.
"He's not! He's worse! I'm not constantly putting other doctor's skills down!"
"What about Frank?" Margaret asks raising her eyebrows. Rolling his eyes, Hawkeye states, "He deserved that. This guy is worse than Charles!"
"I'm sure he isn't that bad."
"He is, trust me. Just see the next time we have wounded!"
Margaret does not have to wait long. An announcement for wounded wakes them up that morning and Margaret is paired with Traeger for surgery. As soon as the operations start, Margaret is less than enthusiastic about the amount of testosterone in the room. Traeger and Hawkeye constantly makes snide comments to each other, and Margaret practically wants to hide when her husband decides to check Traeger's work. When B.J. comes in complaining to Hawkeye about how bad his arm is, Margaret is impressed with how quickly her husband puts aside his ego for his friend. She hates her husband's ego sometimes. What she does not count on is another doctor's ego to shine through a few days later. When it is announced that Horace Baldwin comes to camp, Charles finds the best solution to get back to Tokyo. Despite having been at the camp for a little over a year, he wishes to leave. He is tired of sleeping in a tent with two other men who lack a sophisticated taste. Deciding to make a plan with Baldwin, Charles agrees to help frame Major Houlihan in order to get his old job back. Hiring one of Rosie's workers, Charles tells her what tent to go to. With his part of the job done, the major goes to buy himself a drink. Finding B.J. and Hawkeye there, the man soon finds out that B.J. and Hawkeye have a bet going to see if Hawkeye can keep from making jokes for twenty four hours.
"He has, what? An hour left?" B.J. asks looking at Hawkeye with a grin.
"Forty-five minutes," Hawkeye remarks before the men continue to talk. What no one expects is Margaret to come storming into the Officer's Club and yell at Charles for allowing Baldwin to make sexual advances at her. Convinced this is a show to get him to crack, Hawkeye says so to B.J. who tells him the situation is not planned, but cannot resist making a joke when they find out Baldwin has leather pajamas.
"'Are your leather jammies missing?'" B.J. asks his bunk mate fully aware of Hawkeye's and Margaret's relationship even if they will not admit it to him. Knowing he is being egged on to joke about the situation, Hawkeye replies seriously, "'I don't have any. Do you?'"
B.J. simply turns back to the scene in front of him as Margaret continues to berate Charles in front of everyone in the Officer's Club. Laughing, B.J. tries once again to make his friend laugh or joke just to make him slip up. Then, when one of the women from Rosie's confronts Charles, the bunk mates are astounded at the insanity of the situation.
"'Laughter, laughter everywhere, and not a joke,'" Hawkeye begins before stopping himself wanting to win the wager. Finally, Hawkeye leaves to keep himself from joking. Leaving the tent, he finds Margaret and Colonel Potter heading to find Charles. with Margaret vinidicated and Charles staying at the 4077, the PA system comes on and over the speakers, Hawkeye announces that since the time is a minute after midnight, he has officially won his bet against B.J.; he then proceeds to tell the jokes he has been keeping to himself for the past twenty four hours. First, he tells Igor to walk the next morning's breakfast, then he says to Margaret, "'You always talk about the leather but you never do anything about it. You know what I mean?'"
Knowing that comment alone will keep him from even going near his wife's tent that night, Hawkeye continues his joke session for ten more minutes, before Margaret looks over at Charles and offers to buy him a drink to thank him for sticking up for her. When she leaves for her tent at around one, the nurse heads to her bed. Falling asleep, Margaret wonders if she should take Hawkeye up on the joke he makes.
By Friday, Hawkeye's mood turns sour when he is put in charge of payday. Handing out money, Hawkeye is less than thrilled as those in line yell at him. Unfortunately, those yelling at him are most of the camp. He only gets through around ten people before they are called into OR. Coming back for the money bag he leaves with Klinger, Hawkeye is surprised to find a goat eating a duffle bag of Klinger's. Telling Hawkeye that the bag is where he put the payroll, Klinger is marched over to Colonel Potter's tent with Hawkeye to explain why a goat ate most of the camp's money. Waiting, Hawkeye tries to keep the camp drunk so they will forget about their money and then starts to worry when Colonel Potter tells him that if an investigator does not believe the goat story, then Hawkeye will have to pay it off.
Complaining to Margaret later, Hawkeye is less than surprised when his wife feels no sympathy for him. He is more surprised when Margaret announces, "Well, if it does have to be paid back, then I'll make sure to save what I can."
"You'd help me?" Hawkeye asks in disbelief. Shaking her head, she answers, "No, I'm going to help us stay afloat."
Not willing to be outsmarted by a goat, Hawkeye desperately asks if anyone sees anything regarding the eaten money. No one does. Instead, Hawkeye, Klinger, and Colonel Potter make sure to show the investigator that a goat did in fact eat the money. Excitedly, Hawkeye lets out a cheer when he realizes he willl not have to pay the money back. He makes so much noise that a few people leave their tents. Looking at her husband as if he is crazy, Margaret asks, "What are you yelling about?"
"The money! I don't have to pay it back. Hear that everyone! We're getting our money back!"
Cheers errupt from the camp and three days later everyone gets paid. Walking up to Hawkeye once he pays the last person, Margaret hands him a drink and asks, "That wasn't so bad was it?"
Shaking his head, Hawkeye answers, "I swear this camp is making me go prematurely gray."
Letting out a laugh, Margaret teases, "I don't know. I kind of like it."
She almost runs her hand through husband's hair, but quickly stops herself when she remembers where she is. Sitting down beside him, Margaret glumly states, "I wish this war were over. I'm sick of pretending."
"About us?" Hawkeye asks, his voice low. Nodding, Margaret takes a sip of her drink. After another moment, the nurse smiles to herself and lets out a small laugh. Grinning, Hawkeye asks, "What?"
Shaking her head, Margaret answers, "I was just thinking about that joke you made about leather last week?"
"Oh?" Hawkeye asks instantly curious. Shrugging, Margaret deflects with a glint in her eyes, "I'm going to go to my tent."
Confused how his wife can change topics so quickly, Hawkeye watches his wife leave the Officer's Club before quickly following her a moment later.
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